Nil was the first one to attack the three incoming void beasts. His spell wasn't very effective against void beasts since the spikes he conjured only pierced their bodies without doing any actual damage. Unless he hit an area of the void beasts' body that was solid and susceptible to his strikes. Nil couldn't see any such areas on the two catfish, so he concentrated the shower of spikes on the shark and its jaws. However, the beast wasn't a ninth level beast for nothing. Due to the shark's agile movements, most of the spikes missed or flew through its body, leaving tiny holes that healed in seconds. The few spikes that struck the shark's jaw chipped it. Or at most managed to dislodge a tooth.
But since it took some damage, Nil's attack wasn't useless, and he kept casting his spell, sending shower after shower of Sharp Rain on the shark.
The shark slowed down slightly due to Nil's assault, and the catfish took the lead and arrived within a few meters of the island.
Unlike the jellyfish, the three void beasts currently attacking the island would have to get close to use their magic or attack the defenders. Toz and the others couldn't fight freely in the Void, so the fact that the three void beasts had to enter the island was the silver lining of their current situation.
The shark was still slightly behind the two catfish, so the others, aside from Nil, prepared to deal with them first.
Toz, Scrael, and Hods worked together in the front while Lucy, Mindle, and Stitches prepared to give support from behind. Neither Toz nor Mindle had a lot of mana. But Toz could use his sword and fight in close quarters, which Mindle couldn't. But that didn't mean Mindle would just sit back and spectate.
During the minutes they had to prepare, the island's defenders came up with a short strategy on how to come out alive after defeating the three void beasts.
Hods and Lucy, who were the most lacking in direct firepower when facing the void beasts, would stall one of them while the rest took down another void beast as quickly as possible. Stitches would support whoever needed it by amplifying their life force and strengthening their bodies, and if anyone got injured, he would heal them so they could continue fighting.
Hods, supported by Lucy, targeted the catfish on the left. He swung his sledgehammer against its head and kept it focused on him so it couldn't help its comrade. But just because Hods swung his sledgehammer at the catfish, it didn't mean he hit it. Despite the void beast's large and unwieldy body, it was surprisingly fast.
Lucy kept it wrapped in shadows to tie it down, but the catfish easily broke through them before charging at Hods. Hods saw the catfish open its mouth wide enough to swallow him whole as it swam toward him through the air. He wasn't swift enough to dodge, but he could at least swing his sledgehammer. He swung it upward, striking the catfish in its lower jaw, slamming its mouth shut. Lucy took advantage of that and bound the void beast's mouth shut with more shadows.
Hods sensed the catfish's mounting frustration, despite the empty beady eyes, but he firmed his resolve and prepared to face another charge as soon as it tore through the shadows around its mouth again.
However, the catfish didn't open its mouth to swallow Hods the next time it darted through the air. It swam past Hods and jerked its head to whip him with its whiskers.
The whiskers only had enough impact to force him back a step, but they left several deep red gashes on his arm that began bleeding. Hods winced at the searing pain, but he refocused and gripped his sledgehammer firm. The gashes had already been covered in green light and begun healing.
After healing and strengthening Hods, Stitches looked back at the others. They didn't have a lot of time until Nil couldn't hold back the shark any longer. And Toz, Scrael, and Mindle weren't wasting it.
The catfish was fast. But not as fast as Scrael. Toz could also match its pace when he reinforced his body with lightning mana.
Toz and Scrael flashed around the catfish, tearing into it and looking for weak spots. But even if they didn't find any, the beast would die after they cut its body into pieces enough times, and it couldn't reconnect its flesh anymore.
While Toz and Scrael wore down the catfish, Mindle waited for the perfect opportunity to finish it. Since she didn't have any other way of attacking other than using her spell, she had to be very conservative with her mana. If she blew it all on the first void beast, she wouldn't be able to help take down the other two.
And the moment finally came. Toz slowed down, just barely, but it was enough for the catfish to try and swallow him, so it dove after Toz with its mouth gaping wide open.
Right as the mouth was about to close down on Toz, three tongues of flame flickered to life between its jaws. Toz quickly backed away, supported by his lightning reinforcement and Stitches' body strengthening.
Although he reacted quickly and pulled away as fast as he could, Toz wasn't quite fast enough to avoid the shower of burnt void meat that was the result of Mindle's three tongues of flame incinerating the catfish's insides.
It was impossible to know if Mindle had managed to strike the catfish's weak point or if it had been enough to get her three flames of tongue into the catfish's mouth and flash boil it from within, but at least the catfish was dead. And they hadn't needed to use too much mana during the fight.
However, it didn't look like things were over just yet. The shark had caught up with the two catfish and was aiming for Nil.
And only a few meters away from Nil and the shark was Hods, standing in the catfish's mouth, holding its jaws wide open.
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